McLaren rue Hamilton-Alonso row

Hungaroring 3-5 August, 2007
The Chequered Flag podcast McLaren team boss Ron Dennis admits relations between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso hit an all-time low after an eventful weekend in Hungary.

Hamilton won at the Hungaroring, but only after the world champion was demoted five grid places for holding up his team-mate during qualifying.

That followed an incident when Hamilton had refused to let the Spaniard by and Dennis said: "There's a lot of tension.

"It's been a very difficult time and both drivers must take responsibility."

Hamilton led from flag to podium following Alonso's demotion, the Spaniard having to battle his way through traffic for the entire race before coming home in fourth.

It meant the 22-year-old rookie extended his lead over Alonso at the top of the drivers' championship to seven points with just six races remaining.

But, after weeks of playing down reports of a growing rift between the two drivers, Dennis admitted: "There is a lot of tension in the team between the two drivers, two young drivers who are phenomenally competitive and who lead the drivers' championship.

"It has been a very difficult time for the company and the team. It has been very difficult emotionally."

Hamilton said in a news conference after the race that the two drivers had not exchanged a word in the 24 hours since qualifying.

"He doesn't seem to have been speaking to me since yesterday, so I don't know if he has a problem," Hamilton said.

However, Hamilton has attempted to build bridges between himself and Dennis after disobeying team orders during qualifying and then reportedly launching a furious tirade at the team boss when he was held up by Alonso at the end of the session.

"When you don't obey a team order from your team boss, who has given you the opportunity, it's a difficult situation," he said.

"But in the end you have to stand up for what you believe and how you feel. I am in a lot of trouble with my boss, I probably am, but that's the way it goes.

"I apologised to the team for the decision I took when I was out there. I apologised to Ron and said it wouldn't happen again."

Alonso, meanwhile, remained in philisophical mood after the race.

"It's a lost opportunity because I think this weekend I was faster. Yesterday I got pole and today when I was in clean air I was very fast so I think I could have won.

"But it was not to be. In three weeks there's another race and I'll try again."

Alonso said he was not concerned about slipping further behind in the title race.

"I think it's not going to be decided until the last race," he said. "I was two points behind and now I'm seven behind, but we were 14 behind a few races ago, so we are doing fine."